Located
at the centre of the town of Falaise,
the construction of this church began
shortly after the conquest of England
in 1066. Believed to have been completed
around 1122, the church’s dedications
to Saint Gervais and Saint Protais took
place in April 1124 in the presence of
the Duke-King. Henri I Beauclerc. The
church’s Romanesque architecture
was supposedly inspired by the church
of the Trinité of the Abbaye-aux-Dames
in Caen. Many of the Romanesque stonework
is gone, but one can still see interesting
Romanesque vestiges in the historiated
capitals with secular themes, on the first
four south pillars in the nave.
Another interesting facet of the church
is that the façade’s slender
columns support pinnacles with human heads.
The middle story has deep, blind arcades
whereas the sculpting on the upper story
becomes gradually more subtle. The small
columns below the pinnacles look superficial.
Over the years the church has changed,
and its very face shows the trained eye
the various centuries of change that have
affected not only the religion but the
area in general. This building’s
unusual design can be seen in only a few
great buildings such as La Tenaille and
Notre Dame de Châtres.
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